Miller Law Group, PLLC
Bank Fraud
Bank fraud is a type of white collar crime that is committed when a person deceives a financial institution. When a person commits bank fraud, he or she may do several things such as:
- provide false information on an application for a loan
- forge personal checks
- forge business checks
- forge or counterfeit financial papers
- tamper with another person’s bank account
- lie about his or her individual finances to obtain a loan from the bank
- steal from the bank (as an employee of the bank)
After a person has committed bank fraud and his or her illegal activities have been discovered by the financial institution, the bank will waste no time in reporting the crimes to law enforcement and federal agencies.
Federal Bank Fraud
In the United States, bank fraud is considered a federal crime because banks are federal financial institutions. The Bank Fraud Statute in Title 18 of the U.S. Code clearly states that any person who defrauds a bank is committing a serious criminal offense.
According to the Bank Fraud Statute an person that, “knowingly executes, or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice 1) to defraud a financial institution; or 2) to obtain any of the moneys, funds, credits, assets, securities, or other property owned by; or under the custody or control of a financial institution, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises; shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.” This means that any person who is convicted of bank fraud will face numerous years of jail time and will have to pay a hefty monetary fine and/or restitution to the bank it defrauded.
If you have been charged with misdemeanor or felony bank fraud, know that you can place your trust in the capable hands of Houston white collar crimes defense lawyer, contact Miller Law Group, PLLC today.
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